France supermarket shooting: French police killed a gunman holed up in supermarket in southern France where he had taken hostages earlier on Friday, according to Reuters. Here are highlights from the incident.

France hostage crisi: Police are seen at the scene of a hostage situation in a supermarket in Trebes, Aude, France. (Source: Reuters)

French police killed a gunman holed up in supermarket in southern France where he had taken hostages earlier on Friday, according to Reuters. “The hostage-taker is dead, the source said, adding that he was killed during a raid on the supermarket. Two officers were wounded, the source said. Earlier three people were killed in three separate incidents which the government is treating as an act of terrorism.

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The gunman was claiming allegiance to the Islamic State group fired shots in a hostage-taking at a supermarket in southwest France today, police said. He was asking for the release of Paris November 2015 attacker Salah Abdeslam, according to Reuters. Abdeslam is the prime surviving suspect in the attacks in Paris that killed 130 people.

President Emmanuel Macron said a hostage-taking at a supermarket in southwestern France on Friday appeared to be a terrorist attack and security forces were securing the area.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said that the ongoing hostage-taking seems to be a “terrorist act”. “The hostage situation is ongoing. The operation is not over. All the information we have as I speak lead us to think that this would be a terrorist act,” Philippe said during a visit to Mulhouse. French prosecutors were also treating the incident as a terror attack.

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Counter-terrorism prosecutors have opened an investigation into the incident. “I can confirm to you that the anti-terrorism division of the Paris prosecutors has taken up the case,” the source told Reuters after police said eight people were being held hostage in a supermarket in southern France.

The man “entered the Super U supermarket at around 11.15 am and shots were heard,” a source told AFP. Local authorities tweeted that the area was out-of-bounds to the public. A witness reported he shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest) before going into the premises, the source added.